Hi I have a 04 f350 4x4 , I put 2" lift on it , add a leaf rear and a 2" mini spring pack up front , (this truck sat up pretty good to start with because of the plow package and the small v8 engine ),now it has bump steer , I bought a skyjacker fa499 drop steering arm , and it won't fit with the factory trackbar bracket ,the bracket won't go back in place ,it would have to be spaced down 1/2", I already put there 2" lower trackbar bracket on the truck with the adjustable track bar , has anyone used a drop steering arm on one of these trucks that will work with the stock upper track bar bracket ?

 

That is odd that you are getting bump steer with a 2-inch lift. Most of the time you can do a 2-inch lift without doing anything else to your truck other than checking your alignment. Normally you don't need drop pitman arms, drop trackbar brackets, adjustable trackbars, etc. for lifts on the SD's until they get over 3 or 4 inches.

Did you check out the rest of your front end (ball joints, linkage, etc.) that nothing is wrong there? How much of a drop does your new pitman arm have?

 

The truck sits pretty high from the factory ,the front wheel wells to the ground is almost 42"/1/2 inches stock ,with the original tires still on the truck , at almost 25k miles , everything is very tight in the front end , I even drilled and tapped all the ball joints for zerks right after I got the truck home from the dealer ,it gets mobil 1 syn. grease every 3k when the oils changed , I ordered the truck new and don't really use it as a truck that often , it was the 2nd highest truck ford offered in 04 , the std cab was a little higher , they went on roof height , the arm I believe was for 4-6" lift I called skyjacker on the fa499 arm was told that it won't work with my upper track bar bracket , the sales man at my offroad store called them when I was standing at the counter and they told him it would work !, he said he will do what ever it takes to fix me up , the bump steer isn't real bad , but I would like to make it right , there's a picture of the truck in my gallery , with completely stock suspension , Craig.

 

Ronin/Darren , how do you like the bilstein 5100's , my front shocks seem ok since my front lift is a min spring pack , didnt do much to the shock ext. since it's 4 short 1/2" springs under the factory plow package springs , but the rear shocks only have a little over 2" left and they will be topped out , Craig.

 

That thing should not bumpsteer at all. You have a problem with the angle of the trac bar and tha angle of the drag link. By adding the drop pitman arm, you will make it worse.
I highly suspect that when you changed the trac bar bracket, and trac bar that the angle of the trac bar, and the angle of the drag link are different, and when the axle moves up and down, the two move at different archs. Since the item with the least resistance has to give, you feel it in the steering wheel in the form of bumpsteer.
It is very important that these are allowed to move at the same at the same arch during suspension cycles, or you will bumpsteer.
You truck is not that tall (no dis-respect) and should not require a geaometry correction. The drag link has enough adjustment to keep the wheel straight after a small lift (leveling kit) and a stock trac bar will reach with no problems. SInce you already added am adjustable one, it is alright as long as the angle of this and the drag link match, you will eliminate the problematic steering.
Get the stock trac bar bracket back in there, and leave the stock straight pitman arm and you will be steering and driveing like stock again.

 

I orig. lifted it without anything , and after the lift ,the front axle was crooked the trackbar fixed that , the steering wheel is an easy fix ,my old truck fit 44's with out a problem , not my first lift kit , the drop pitman arm does put the bars back to parallel as they were originally , apparently Im going to have to buy the dropped trackbar bracket , and remove the lower trackbar bracket , I wasn't Implying or thought that the truck was big , its my p.o.s. though , and I want to make it right . 75f350, I would like to find a pitman arm that doesn't hit the oem upper trackbar bracket , than it would be fixed , without the dropped pitman arm the angle is pretty steep ,you hit a bump suspension compresses , then when the front end lifts back up after the compression , my steering wheel pulls, (it gets old after awhile) , thanks for the help guys , Craig.

 

Craig - I think Ed hit it right there. When I did my leveling kit everyone said I didn't need anything else other than the 3.5 Fabtech hanger kit, but I had a ton of bumpsteer. I had to add the drop pitman arm, drop trackbar bracket, and adjustable trackbar to get mine corrected.

I would think your off-road shop should be able to find the correct drop pitman arm for you. Are you using components from the same lift company? Mixing components is not a problem, but because they were not designed to work together you some times get clearance issues like what you are describing.

I really like the Bilsteins. I have used a lot of other brand shocks both on and off road, but prefer the Bilsteins over the others. Make sure you get the correct one for your lift size. Parts numbers here:

http://www.bilstein.com/suvs_5100.php

Hope you get your truck sorted out. Let us know the outcome.

 

The components are a cheaper brand , all made by skyjacker , it did this with the mini spring pack (4 -1/2"leafs)=2", and a add a leaf in the rear ,everything else was stock.

 

Check with your off road shop that they are using components that belong together. Just because they are using all Skyjacker stuff doesn't mean that they belong together (i.e. 4-inch lift components with 6-inch lift components). That might be why you are having clearance issues with the pitman arm, trackbar, drop bracket, etc.

 

My off road shop does the most superduty work with complete kits , I bought the mini spring pack from an off road online store and the rest from my off road store , you mean nobody makes a drop pitman arm that will work on these trucks without replacing the upper trackarm bracket !? , I guess it's something I'll have to live with , or put a complete "real lift kit" on the truck, lol. 315/75/16 tires fit on the truck stock, but rub my factory ford mud flaps ,the problem is that the mud flaps ride on the paint and have worn into the clearcoat and look bad when removed ,so I figured I'd lift it enough so the tires would fit with the mud flaps in place , Im not really into tires that stick out far , I prefer the tall skinny military tire look , Craig.

 

Ronin, 75f350 ,thanks for the advice , I've called every lift company I could find and they all told me that the factory upper track bar bracket has to be changed to run the dropped pitman arm on these trucks , or they will hit ,so I ordered the upper and will remove the lower bracket , I don't have any pictures of the truck lifted , oh here's something wierd even though I put those 4 -1/2" springs under the original springs , they measure 2" in height , but measuring the truck in the same spot I park in, the truck is 3" higher? , how is that possible? , they must be effecting the spring rate somewhat ,even though they are only 6"/8"/10"/12" long , will try and get some pictures , thanks guys , Craig.

 

Sorry Craig. I have been off line the last couple of days.

Normally when you add a mini spring pack you don't have to change anything else on the SD trucks, but no two trucks are the same and it may be that your truck was effected just enough that it is creating the bumpsteer. Then you run into trying to piece together a system that is not out there. Sounds like you got it figured now.

It is normal for any lift to yield a higher lift when first installed and then they settle after awhile. The amount of settling will vary from vehicle to vehicle due to the weight the truck carries and how the truck is used.

Let us know how it all turns out.

 

I did get the upper bracket ,so I can get things finished , sort of ,I decided to go to a 6" lift since I have most of the parts ,except the springs for the front and what ever the rear will need , Im going to move the brake lines down etc , add some bump stops , also I did find some comments on the donahoe racing/Icon tech section on my 5.4l engine combo with the X code , plow springs , about the height differences I've had ,I'll try and get some pictures of the truck with the 2" lift to compare with the picture I took thats in my gallery , Craig.

 

Craig - if you are not getting the information that you desire, send a PM or email to either DCSpecial or Overkill on this forum. Just click on their name that I linked to their profiles. Both are very knowledgeable about suspension lifts and Marty (Overkill) is the owner of Truck Toyz Performance an FTE sponsor. They could help you figure out your lift without going through a bunch of trial and error.

 

I think the problem started when I wanted to do just a very small lift , and for some reason nobody at skyjacker new that you needed the upper track arm bracket to use their drop arm they sold me ! all the parts that I have say 4-6" or 4-8" lift and are the parts numbers that come in their box kit for the 6" lift , the only thing that I'll have to figure out is the rear height , because I do not want to change the factory spring pack with the over loads , my truck will not see off road use ,but it still has to be able to haul a bed full of stone etc! , as soon as I get the front springs and the shocks etc , I can get started , Craig.